Rio Tinto is a diversified mining company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, operating globally in iron ore, copper, aluminium, diamonds, and other commodities.
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Rio Tinto reports comprehensive operational emissions data but remains the highest Scope 1 & 2 emitter among mining peers globally. The company has no Scope 3 reduction target despite Scope 3 representing 95% of emissions and rising since 2020. Active anti-climate lobbying contradicts public commitments; the Juukan Gorge destruction and multiple regulatory violations expose systemic environmental and cultural harm.
Rio Tinto scores 20/100 (Significant gaps) on SINK's independent climate assessment, scored from public data only. Fees pay for the review, never the result. Last verified May 2026.
That places Rio Tinto joint 806th of 847 companies scored, and 12th of 14 in Mining & Extraction.
Where Rio Tinto sits among mining & extraction peers.
Among the 14 major mining & extraction brands we've scored, Rio Tinto sits 12th of 14.
Its three lowest-scoring questions, and what the evidence didn't show.
Active anti-climate lobbying: Rio Tinto lobbied Australian PM to weaken Nature Positive Plan and remove climate triggers, ACCR disengaged citing greenwashing and 'breach of trust'.
Scope 1 & 2 declined 14% from 2018 baseline (36.7 Mt to 31.5 Mt) but slowed to 0.2 Mt reduction 2024–2025.
Rio Tinto has 'no net loss' biodiversity ambition and assessed 100% of high-priority and 86% of all sites.
A score changes when the evidence does. We use new published evidence at the next rescore. Evidence that isn't public can count through an evidence review.
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Get in touch →Strongest on Carbon Footprint — Operations and Energy Source (7/10, 6/10). Weakest on Controversies & Red Flags and Emissions Trajectory (0/10, 3/10).
The 3 companies in the sector scoring nearest above Rio Tinto.
Freeport-McMoRan reports comprehensively on climate and environmental governance but delivers minimal decarbonization.
See the breakdown →Vale reports meaningful absolute emissions reductions and 84% renewable electricity globally, but operates at a scale (466 MtCO₂e total) that dwarfs these gains.
See the breakdown →Anglo American publishes granular operational emissions data but lacks third-party GHG assurance and rejected SBTi validation.
See the breakdown →The formula and all 18 sources.
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × Scale18 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
11 of 18 sources are independent of the company.
If you believe a source has been misread or a newer version exists, submit a challenge.
Rio Tinto is a diversified mining company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, operating globally in iron ore, copper, aluminium, diamonds, and other commodities. Founded in 1873, it is one of the world's largest mining corporations by market capitalisation and production volume. It faces significant environmental and social liabilities from its extractive footprint.
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